Wind-wheel.



J. A. BENNETT.

WIND WHEEL. APPLIOATION HLED 55M. 20, 1911'.

P temedfs' n 10, 1912.

chains 20, 21, passing over pulleys 23, with Rods 16 are rigidly fixedto the arms 13 J UDSON A. BENNETT, .OF CLOVI S, NEW' :MEXICO.

mun-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application :filed September 20, 1911. Serial No. 650,403.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jonson A. Benson, a citizen of the United States,residing at Clovis, in the countyof Curry and Stateof New Mexico, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vind- -Wheels, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to wind wheels of the vertical, feathering bladeclass, and its main object is. to adapt-each blade to automaticallyassume a spiral formof moreor less twist according to the force of thewind, in order that each blade may have the same screw thread pitchthroughout its radial length, thus receiving the same degree ofpropelling force from the wind over the whole area of the wheel.

To this end my invention consists in the construction andcombinationofparts forming a avind wheel hereinafter more fullydescribed and particularly stated in the claims, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is an inner face View of awind wheel according to my invention. Fig. [I is :a top 'view of thesame. ELI-I, is n detail view of the pinion and blflde-LGtl1fl ingcords. Fig. IV, is an outer end view-of a single blade and some of. theadjacent parts to show the blade when twisted;

Numeral 5 represents a vertical tower or derrick upon the top of whichone end of the wheel shaft 6 is journaled to rotate in a bearing 7 thishearing being mounted for horizontal rotation on a bearing 12 on thetower. The outer end ofthe wheel shaft is. journaled in a bearing 8,which is mounted on a truck 9, having wheels 10 which roll upon acircular track 11 that is located upon the ground concentric with thecentral bearing 12. A series of arms 13 are radially fixed to shaft 6,and these arms, are stayed by braces 14 connecting with the shaft. Guys15 may extend from the top of the tower to the ground -to brace thetower.

as chords of concentric circles, and upon these rods the blades 17 aremounted between the arms 13. The rods pass through the blades at pointsbetween the radial center 18 of each blade and its front ed e, andhinges 33 connect the blades with t e ribs as hangers. -Another seriesof ribs 19 are hinged at 34 to the blades to the rear of their centralline and are connected by cords or a pinion 22.-that is mounted torotatef-upon the shaft 6. An elbow dever 24 pivoted to Patented Sept.10, 1 912.

the shaftat 82 and provided with a segment of teeth that engage thepinion '22, is conneo'ted by a rod 25 with asleeve 26 that -ismounted-to reciprocate longitudinally upon the shaft 6, and is driven torevolve 'therewith by a spline 27 A'ring 28, mounted to J revolve uponthe sleeve andto reciprocate therewith, is connected witha weight 29,by'

a cord orchain 30 that passesover' a pulley 31 that is mounted on the-bearing'7.v When the wind blows it will swing'the wheel upon thetrack11 untilthe sh aft6 points its inner end to the wind which *then hasthe, full breadth of the wheel to act upon. The bean ings-of theshaft6,'being at its extreme ends, permitstay braces 14 upon the wheel,and 15 upon the tower; and with the truck 9 upon the circular track 1-1,su porting the outer end of the wheel shaft, tltlS combination isadapted'to-endure the severest winds,

The weight 29, acting through the cord 21 and other connections,holds-the blades normally nearly in the plane of the wheel,

the line of it against the resistance of the weight 29. Now, to carryout my full ideaoffering (a broad surface for the action :uf 4 ;light\wlnds; but as the wind increases the blades will be feathered more andmore into cord 21 will give greater twist to the inner ends ofthe bladesthan to the outer ends. For example, if the cord 21 were pulled forwardsix inches it would pull the next rear cord 20, forward that distance,and the two cords connecting the blades around the whole wheel, andworking around the pinion 22, act as one cord. In fact, all the cordsmight be joined as one where they go around the pinion. Whatever thepitch of the wheel may be, the twist of the blades is one-half as muchat the circumference as at one-half the radius like the thread in a truescrew. This united action of the cords produce a gain in each bladetwist from circumference toward center, forming a constant screw pitchthroughout the length of the blade. The weight 29 and connections may besubstituted by any equivalent resistance to the feathering of the bladesby the wind. The cords 2O oppose the action of the cords 21 merely tokeep the rear edge of the blades from fluttering in the wind. The screwpitch of the blades causes the wind to act with equal revolving force onthe whole area of the wheel, and the varying pitch of the screwproportional to the force of wind utilizes both light breezes and'heavywinds without injurious strain on the wheel at any point. One wheel mayhave any desired number of blades; there may be a pair of cords 20, 21to each blade, or one pair of cords may operate a rod 19 that connectswith a number of blades. While the rods 16 are necessarily stiff andrigid, the rods 19 may be substituted by cords, or other flexibleconnections would do their work nearly as well.

I claim- I 1. In a wind wheel, a shaft journaled in bearings and armsfixed radially to the shaft; a set of rods fixed to the said arms aschords of circular arcs, one circle within Copies of this patent may beobtained for naled to the shaftnear to the said radial arms; connectionsrunning along the radial arms and communicating between the operatingrods and the said pinion, and connections along the shaft between thepinion and the said weight.

2. In a wind wheel, rods fixed as chords of circles of differentdiameters on the face of the wheel; blades hung upon the said rods toswing to and from radial, longitudinal planes; operating rods locatedsubstantially parallel with the fixed rods and connected with theblades, the point of connection being at a greater distance from theadjacent hanging rod on the large circle than on the smaller ones; andmeans for givlng an equal amount of motion to all the operating rods,whereby a twisting action upon the blades is produced.

8. In a wind wheel, blades hinged at difierent points in their radiallength to the wheel; operating mechanism connected in lines of chords ofcircles with each blade at distances from the line of the hingesproportional to the distance of the connections from the axis of thdwheel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JUDSON A. BENNETT.

\Vitnesses:

J. A. BISHOP, WLB. OLnnAM.

five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

